Not too long ago, I shared that I had the privilege to be a part of a writing project where the proceeds would be going to support hurricane relief. The Will To Survive is a labor of love for editor Felicia A. Sullivan, who brought together the talents of everyone who contributed to this project: those who write, those who format, and the artist who created the awesome cover.
The book is available both in kindle and paperback format. I have a paperback version of the book and with 22 different short stories, it weighs in at a pretty hefty 345 pages.
The two charities being supported with this work are: One America Appeal: www.oneamericaappeal.org and Global Giving-Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund: www.globalgiving.org/projects/hurricane-harvey-relief-fund/. Please consider picking up a copy of the book, but also consider directly donating to these worthy causes. You can find the book here: The Will To Survive.
The description on the back reads as follows:
When normal life collapses, peril waits around every corner, and one small slip could mean certain death. In THE WILL TO SURVIVE, unique and brilliant voices bring to life stories of post-apocalyptic danger sure to make the heart race, the flesh creep.
NOTE: THE WILL TO SURVIVE is a collective effort by a great group of authors, born from the desire to help their fellow citizens suffering the devastating effects of multiple hurricanes. Every short story has a survival element, and 100% of the proceeds are being donated to two charities, One America Appeal and Global Giving Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund.
Twenty-Two stories of tragedy, hope, and survival in one volume. It’s the end of the world. Do you have the will to survive?
Another way you can help us continue to build awareness and generate more interest in this book is to read it and write an honest review on Amazon and anywhere else you can post a review. My story, “The Collective” is nestled within the pages of the book and its a story that I have always felt was one of my more compelling. Nope, no zombies to be seen, but one that really focuses on the value of life, the value of living, and choosing whether it is worth going on when everyone else that you love is gone.
Please check this book out. It’s a great cause and if you enjoy TEOTWAWKI fiction, you’ll love it.
February 26, 2018 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Other folk's stuff..., Random Thoughts, The Shorts | Tags: Apocalypse, catastrophe, charity, horror, kindle, paperback, short stories, survival, TEOTWAWKI, zombies | Leave a comment
I was notified with the pleasant news that I am the featured author over at the Zombie Authors Blog for the next couple of weeks. So while you may have found me here on my own slice of the blogosphere, please go check out what they have to say about me over at Zombie Authors: http://zombie-authors.blogspot.com/
Thanks to Jule Romans for giving me the heads up on this nice bit of news.
July 22, 2014 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Dark Stories, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences, The Shorts | Tags: Apocalypse, beyond the dark, book review, comes the dark, dark stories, horror, Into The Dark, Permuted Press, zombies | Leave a comment
When I moved my trilogy over to Permuted Press, I had the privilege of getting to work with Felicia Sullivan, editor extraordinaire. She had actually taken a look at the original version of Into the Dark before it went to print and helped me out with some advice about it, which I appreciated a great deal. This was after we met at Horror Realm in September of 2010-shortly after the original release of Comes the Dark. But when she was assigned to edit my trilogy by Permuted, she dove into the novels and helped to polish them up to a greater extent than ever before. And she knows my secret-my kryptonite as it were-when it comes to my writing. No, I’m not going to tell you what that is! But it is something I have worked hard at correcting ever since she lent me this insight and I am far better for having realized this particular failing of mine.
Felicia has her own Facebook page and not too long ago she asked me if I would like to be interviewed by her. So we discussed my work, my perspective on writing, and what my plan is for the zombie apocalypse. (To bug out, or not to bug out…). It was a fun little interview, and I appreciated the chance to once again plug my work. That interview was posted on her page today.
So if you would be so kind, take a few minutes and head on over to her page, “like” it, and check out my interview with the lovely Felicia Sullivan.
https://www.facebook.com/indieeditor
March 12, 2013 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Dark Stories, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: comes the dark, editor, horror, interview, Into The Dark, Permuted Press, writer, writing, zombies | 1 Comment
Yep, I did it again. I’ve returned to the bizarro world with my offering to the folks over at Rooster Republic Press…which is their new name. It’s their new name, because they had a different name when I was in Tall Tales with Short Cocks Volume 2, not so very long ago. But I’m happy they accepted my humble little tale about family dysfunction “Hell in the Family” that appears in Tall Tales with Short Cocks Volume 3, regardless of their name. It should be available for mass consumption on February 26th, right around the time Comes The Dark reveals itself in paperback and in audio book format. So it is a great double whammy for me.
I’m looking forward to being apart of another wild and raunchy compendium of screwed up stories about screwed up things. While I can’t speak to what the other authors have contributed and what strange topics they have dived into, my story is my own take on the ever popular nerdy vampire sub genre. Well, just because you haven’t heard of this sub genre doesn’t mean it isn’t popular. Well, it might still be a bit of an underground revolution in the making, but I swear it’s gonna be huge someday!
So I’ll be sure to add links once the book is available for purchase, but for now, feast your eyes on the very shiny, purty cover of this latest edition of Tall Tales with Short Cocks.
February 18, 2013 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Other folk's stuff..., The Shorts | Tags: Bizarro, comedy, ghosts, horror, Rooster Republic Press, vampires | Leave a comment
Well, it’s been a great ride I’ve been on over the past few years. The Library of the Living Dead was very good to me when it gave me a shot as a new author. I think I was pretty good to them by producing a trilogy that sold a few copies here and there. Good enough that when the time to part ways with the Library was upon me, Jacob, the owner of Permuted Press, was very interested in re-releasing my novels.
It’s been an interesting journey, with a lot of twists and turns. Of course, many of them occurred before the first book was ever published, but there have been quite a few since then. Some ups and some downs, including a gaff with the kindle version of Comes The Dark occurred that required some quick thinking. But all’s well that ends well, and that situation ended well. But now my books are in someone else’s hands, and I’m pretty excited about what’s to come. I miss the Library, and I miss Doc, my old publisher, but it has gone by the wayside, and I doubt, sadly enough, that it will ever publish something new again.
Comes The Dark is being re-released with new edits and new content in paperback, ebook, and audible versions by Permuted press this month. The same will be the case with the two sequels, which are coming in March and April. Some things I have added that weren’t included in the original Dark Stories-some freshly written, some dug up from the crypt where I keep a lot of old, dusty things that just need a little bit of a cleaning up before they’re ready to go. Well…not everything should see the light of day from that old crypt, but this stuff I feel deserves to get a good looking over by someone other than me.
I have to admit, what I’m excited the most about the re-release of this trilogy is that they will be available in audio form. You see, for those of you who don’t know me personally, you may not understand why this is what gets me so excited. But if you do know me and my family, and know my son, Zack, you’ll understand why. I guess that makes me nervous for the book’s release in audio format as well-when your boy tells you that you’re his favorite author, but he hasn’t even read any of your stuff yet…well, that’s a lot to live up to.
I’ve been informed that the ebook version of Comes The Dark will be ready to go in the next few days. Once I have a link, I’ll be sharing it. The paper version of the book will hit roughly around 2/26/13, as will the audio version. The great news is that the link is already up for ordering the audio version of the book, and my guess is it will be the same link for the other versions as well-just click on the option you prefer. So if you have a desire to check out my first book on tape (heh, I’m old enough to remember when they were on tape!), click the cover art below and pre-order your copy. I’ll be posting again when the other versions are available as well, so stay tuned!
February 9, 2013 | Categories: Comes The Dark, My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: Apocalypse, audible, comes the dark, cover art, dark stories, horror, kindle, Library of the Living Dead, Permuted Press, short stories, zombies | 1 Comment
Arthur Graham, fellow author and editor for Tall Tales with Short Cocks Volume 2, for which I wrote a science fiction comedy story called “The Interstellar Quest for Snack Cakes”, took the time out to interview me about my story, about zombies, and about all sorts of strange things. Okay, I admit it-his questions weren’t all that strange, just my answers. But please check it out at: http://bizarropress.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/patrick-dorazio/
November 29, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts, The Shorts | Tags: adventure, Aliens, Apocalypse, Bizarro, Bizarro Press, comedy, horror, zombies | Leave a comment
I announced about a week ago that No More Heroes, an anthology filled with all new superheroes and villains, was available over at Creatspace. I’m thrilled that it is now on Amazon as well. While it appears only in paperback at this time, I’m sure that it will be available in e-book format very soon as well. This project was a labor of love, as my past posts have explained. A fully developed and detailed world of new good guys and bad guys with all new super powers and abilities to cause mayhem and destruction. Definitely worth checking out for those who are looking for something new and different. You can read my tale of bad guys and good guys: “Slow Goth and St. North” there, along with a great lineup of other stories about plenty of other baddies and do gooders.
Check it out by clicking on the image of below.
November 2, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Other folk's stuff..., The Shorts | Tags: adventure, short stories, Superheroes, supernatural, Villains | Leave a comment
As you should know, the anthology Zombies Gone Wild has been released. Why should you know? Well, let me tell ya. Because it includes one of my short stories, “What’s Eating You?” which is one twisted, messed up tale of zombie therapy. It also includes stories from a slew of great indy authors who loves them some zombies. Out on the kindle, very soon to be available in paperback as well.
You should also know because great and wonderful fellow author Rebecca Besser, who also has a story included in this wondrous tome, has created “Wild Week!” over on her blog, where she is doing interviews of many of the authors involved in this killer project. So please stop on over and check out the interview Rebecca did with yours truly as a part of Wild Week…and check out the other interviews she’s doing to support the book’s release as well.
http://blog.rebeccabesser.com/2012/10/26/patrick-dorazio—wild-week.aspx?ref=rss
October 26, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Other folk's stuff..., The Shorts | Tags: Apocalypse, comedy, horror, short stories, zombies | Leave a comment
Hello folks. I figure it has been a while since I shared any information with you on the re-release of Comes The Dark as well the other two books in the trilogy by Permuted Press. After all, they won’t be available until 2013, right? So there is some time before that happens. But of course, things are always happening behind the scenes. Comes The Dark has already been re-edited for the new version and is in the publisher’s hands. More to come on a release date-for paperback, ebook, and hopefully even an audible version (which will make some people I know very happy).
Well, I wanted to share a bit of recent news with you which made me as giddy as a school girl. Well, maybe not THAT giddy, but I thought it was pretty cool. I was just show the new artists rendition of the cover for the book and it was, in a word, AWESOME! Nope, I can’t share any significant details with you at this time, mainly because it is still a work in progress, but suffice it to say that it will look completely different than the original cover…as will the covers for Into The Dark and Beyond The Dark. Now let me state very clearly that I absolutely love what Philip R. Rogers did with the original covers. He took my vision for the first cover and transformed it into something wonderful, and then did the same with the second and third books as well. He is an incredible artist and I love not only my covers, but just about everything else he has ever done for the anthologies I’ve been in and the other writers he’s worked with. His stuff has a distinctive air to it that is instantly recognizable to me. He tells a tremendous story with his images that draw the eye.
The new covers have gone in a completely different direction. I’ll just say that there will likely not be a zombie in sight on any of the three, but for anyone who has read my books, they’ll see some things from the stories that they’ll recognize right away with what is on display.
Just as a refresher, the new books will have a significant volume of new material-they’ve jumped from being three books at each roughly 60,000 words to each being anywhere from 80,000 to over 100,000 words each. Since much of that is the Dark Stories that I have posted on my website, but with even more additions, I will likely be pulling those stories down prior to the release of the books next year. I figure, if you haven’t read the rough versions of them already, you can check them out all polished up and shiny for the new books.
In other news, I continue to work on the fourth book in this saga, which, as I have stated before, isn’t the fourth book in the trilogy (and I know saying a phrase like that sounds like a bad joke) but the start of a new two-book saga. A duology, if you will. The trilogy will stand on its own and these two new books will as well, though they will be tied together by characters and a shared world. The book has been outlined for a long time, but what I truly love about writing is how the story changes and morphs as I write it, so even I don’t know what to expect from page to page. It is a heck of a journey, and I look forward to sharing with you on down the line. I apologize that I don’t share more of what I write on a daily or weekly basis, but I’m a bit shy with that. I do have a plan though, to start sharing some of my zombie short stories, or some tidbits of them, that have either been previously released, or yet to be, just to keep you folks entertained a bit when you come to my blog. I know my reviews are just fascinating (har har!) but I hope some of my own work might be of interest as well.
Until next time…which I hope will be in the next few days…see ya!
August 21, 2012 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Dark Stories, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences | Tags: adventure, Apocalypse, beyond the dark, comes the dark, dark stories, horror, Into The Dark, Permuted Press, writer, writing, zombies | Leave a comment
Not too long ago, I mentioned that my trilogy, Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, and Beyond The Dark were being re-released by Permuted Press in 2013. Since I had agreed to do this, I have been working to reconfigure the manuscripts of each book. Each will be much larger than the books released by The Library of the Living Dead Press, with the Dark Stories I originally removed returning to their rightful place in each volume. There will be revisions and some new stories, in particular in the final book of the trilogy. One story comes from an anthology called Eye Witness: Zombie from May December Publications that stands alone, but happens in the same world as the rest of the saga. Another story will be about Lydia, a character that appears in the second and third books and is one of my favorites. At the suggestion of one of the folks who reviewed the trilogy, along with the Dark Stories that appeared in the e-book omnibus (you know who you are!), Lydia is getting her day, and the story I am relating takes place several weeks before the events of the trilogy. Lydia is someone who was influenced by my mother and sister, who both passed away in 2011. Much like Megan, she is a strong, loving character who will do anything for those she cares for. I think this new story will demonstrate that even more than what occurs in the trilogy.
Since it is all in the hands of Permuted and my new editor, I will be focusing my writing efforts on the fourth book. The initial chapter is a tricky one, and I have been over thinking it for some time, but it, along with the rest of the story, is coming together and I look forward to sharing bits and pieces of it with you as time goes on. More to come, so stay tuned!
June 20, 2012 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Dark Stories, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences | Tags: Apocalypse, beyond the dark, comes the dark, dark stories, Into The Dark, Library of the Living Dead, Permuted Press, writing, zombies | Leave a comment
I’d mentioned that I’d written a brief article for Pat Douglas, a fellow author, over on his website, http://indie-inside.com. It has gone live now, and I hope you’ll click on the full link and head on over there: http://indie-inside.com/the-joys-of-the-other-stuff-guest-blog-w-patrick-dorazio/. For anyone who has become a writer and believes that when they get published that they can just sit back and bask in the glory of being famous, this article is for you. It’s also for anyone else who ever wonders how you can get the word out on a writing project. Whether you self-publish, get with a smaller publisher, or manage to swing for the fences and get with one of the big publishers out of New York, much of the promotional work responsibility is in your own hands. There is tons you can do to help promote your stuff, and my article goes over just a small smidgen of that. So pleased check it out…it might make you cringe, but perhaps it will bring a smile to your face…because I tried to be funny (just a little bit-probably failed, but give me a B for effort).
June 16, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: comedy, editing, promoting, publishing, writer, writing | Leave a comment
Just a quick note here on a website a friend and fellow author, Pat Douglas, has put together. He gets a lot of traffic there because he puts up interesting articles and all kinds of cool stuff, along with promoting his own writing, naturally. An article I wrote will be appearing there tomorrow, and I hope any new or aspiring writers find it interesting. Just a few thoughts on the writing world in general and promotion in particular. You can check out articles from plenty of different folks in the writing world there. Just hit the link and mark it as one of your favorites: http://indie-inside.com/
June 15, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Other folk's stuff... | Tags: blogs, editing, horror, writer, writing, zombies | Leave a comment
Well, it hasn’t been too long since I mentioned that I got the rights back to my trilogy of novels: Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, and Beyond The Dark. Now I can reveal where those books are heading, and I couldn’t be more excited. I have just signed the contracts to have them re-released via Permuted Press starting in early 2013!
Each book will have the “Dark Stories” as I dubbed them, that belong with each book, rather than in a separate book that only appears in the electronic version, like what happened in the past. So tales related to all the characters that I originally wrote into the trilogy will be back where they belong, as bonus material in each printed book and e-book version. I’m thrilled that everyone who reads these versions of the books will have the opportunity to get the full story on characters such as George, Megan, and Michael and everyone else. Of note is that one of the Dark Stories that will appear at the end of Beyond The Dark is brand new, and another one of them is expanded beyond its rather short length to a full-sized short story. So there will be a good amount of brand new content that no one has seen before as well.
The schedule of releases hasn’t been set as of yet, but I wanted to make an additional announcement at this time as well. As I have babbled in the past, my plan has always been to produce two more novels that follow up the Dark trilogy, and my intention is to get rolling with those immediately after I have completed this last Dark story I am presently working on. It will be my goal to complete the fourth book before the end of this year, and dive right into the fifth and final book of the saga after that. So my hope is that they will find their way to market not long after the release of the final book in the trilogy. Nothing else is for certain at this time, but I hope to be providing updates on this project as it goes forward, so as always, stay tuned!
May 21, 2012 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences | Tags: Apocalypse, beyond the dark, comes the dark, dark stories, horror, Into The Dark, Permuted Press | 6 Comments
For the most part, my posts on this blog have been related to my work and the work of others: reviews, updates, and promotion of my work and the work of my fellow writers. There have been a few commentaries on my experiences in writing and I will admit there probably needs to be more. While I am far from an expert on how to get published or just in the craft of writing, I have learned a few things along the way and continue to learn new things every day.
One thing in particular that I have learned is that there are so many people out there who genuinely care for one another in the writing community. They may make their living writing, editing, publishing, doing formatting…or they may be doing it more as a sideline-hobby/passion/dream of making it big someday (most of us are like that, in fact), or they are fans of the different genres: horror, science fiction, fantasy, bizarro, etc who have dreams of getting more involved down the road-maybe making movies, writing, creating their own publishing company, or something else. They pour their blood, sweat, and tears into what they do, and care about it enough to make sure they do the best job possible-not just for themselves, but for everyone else who is relying on them. Social media has allowed pretty much everyone to share their thoughts, connect, and join in the conversation with a very wide ranging community that is all over the globe. I’ve learned a lot from a lot of different people. Not just about writing, but about the business side of things-what it takes to get a book out there, how to promote your work, how do you hook up with filmmakers, etc. I’ve been lucky because I’ve associated myself with people who not only care about what they do, but they behave in a very professional manner.
But you hear stories now and again about someone who steals stories from other authors and claims them to be their own, or publishers who refuse to pay the artists for the work they put out there. It is unfortunate, but the people who share their experiences and send out warnings pave the way for the rest of us to be able to avoid the same pitfalls, and because of that, we all are grateful to these brave souls. Sometimes the lessons are more simple, such as avoiding getting provoked by a review of your work that you disagree with. Tales of woe for authors abound on this front.
This brings me to the main topic of this post. Yesterday, I saw two separate warnings posted on Facebook from two separate authors, both of which are fairly new to being published. Quite a few people have since shared their information with everyone on Twitter and Facebook that they know, and I am joining their ranks. As some of you know, I tend to keep my opinions to myself beyond of the topic of the writing I do or someone else’s work…and when I do comment on anything anyone else does, I do my best to be constructive and professional about it. I have avoided more flammable topics, but for right now, I feel it’s important that I share these two tales with anyone who reads my blog. Take away from them what you will. It is my hope that what has happened to these two writers doesn’t have to happen to anyone else because of what they’ve shared.
The first post is from horror author Alyn Day.
http://alyndayofthedead.blogspot.com/2012/05/suffering-in-silence.html
The second is from author Mandy De Geit.
http://mandydegeit.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/when-publishing-goes-wrong-starring-undead-press/
I think it is fair to share these blog posts with the world, as I think it would also be fair for me to share any rebuttals that the publisher has to offer to either or both of these authors, if I hear of one in the future. Because there is always two sides to the story, and even with the information shared above, I would be curious to see what response there may be to these accusations. It is a shame when things like this happen. But as so many others have said and I have as well, the fact that this information was shared makes all of us the wiser and more prepared as writers going forward with our efforts.
So always be alert and concerned about what is going on around you as a writer. Find out as much as you can about a editor, a publisher, and everyone else involved in working with you before you hand your pride and joy over to them. Just as you expect a mechanic to be trained to work on cars and a doctor to have a medical degree before you let them tell you to bend over and cough, you should know the history of who you are looking to work with in advance of agreeing to anything. But if you do end up making a mistake (and we all have, on many different occasions), don’t hesitate to share with others, so they can learn and avoid those same mistakes.
May 15, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: publishing, writing, writing horror stories | 11 Comments
I got the chance to answer a few questions (in my normally snarky way) that fellow author, and editor, Suzanne Robb came up with for me. You may know Suzanne from her fantastic book, “Z-Boat”, or because of her numerous other short story projects. She is in the process of editing an anthology that I have a privilege of being a part of entitled “Read The End First”, which is about 24 different tales about the end of the world…one specific to each time zone. That should be coming out soon, and more details on that later. But enough about Suzanne! Check out her interview of yours truly over on her blog: http://suzannerobb.blogspot.ca/2012/04/paatrick-dorazio-his-thoughts-on.html, and check out some of Suzanne’s stories as well!
April 16, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: beyond the dark, comes the dark, dark stories, horror, interview, Into The Dark, short stories, vampires, werewolves, writer, zombies | Leave a comment
I’m pretty excited about a newly release anthology that one of my short stories appears in. I had the opportunity to write a story that was a bit different for me, though at the same time, still shared a bit of DNA with many of the other stories I’ve written over the years. This particular one was originally intended for another anthology, and fit the it to a T. Unfortunately, before that particular anthology got very far, it was cancelled by the publisher. I was ‘stuck’ with this story at that point, which was unfortunate, because I thought it was one of my better tales. It was my effort at writing a war story set in the future, but having some very traditional horror elements to it-a particular menace that I had never written a story about before, and was a new challenge for me. So when I heard about Static Movement producing an anthology entitled Dark Dispatches, which wanted tales of war, real or imagined, here on Earth or elsewhere, in any time period–past, present or future, I knew my story might have a second life. So I submitted my tale, entitled “One Shot, One Kill”, and George Wilhite, the editor, responded within a couple of days, snatching it up.
And now this tale has been released to Amazon, and I am asking you to check it out. I’m not sure how Static Movement works on ebooks, but the paperback version is now available. Keep an eye on the link for further information on the kindle release, and probably over on smashwords for other ebook releases.
I would ask that you consider getting a copy of this book in paperback-a slew of war stories that contain supernatural, alien, and plain old human warriors-all with compelling story lines. I have had the privilege of reading one of the other tales in this book already, by Richard Marsden, and I can tell you that it is excellent. Well worth the price of admission for these two tales alone…but there are many, many more!
So go ahead: click the picture, and head on over to Amazon to pick up your copy of Dark Dispatches. Thanks!
March 9, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Other folk's stuff..., The Shorts | Tags: adventure, Aliens, Apocalypse, cover art, ghosts, short stories, Static Movement Press, vampires, war, werewolves, westerns, zombies | Leave a comment
A while back, I had the opportunity to write a story for a new anthology based on an old movie. Let me correct myself. It was an old, bad movie. Not just any bad movie, but THE bad movie. The one that is so bad it has gotten awards for being the worst movie ever made, and because of that, has become a cult classic in the minds of people everywhere. Heck, they made a movie about the guy who made this movie because this movie was so bad, and this guy was so good at making bad movies and THAT movie even won an academy award. Strange, huh? A movie about a movie that is bad winning an academy award. Go figure.
Well, I’m not trying to keep any secrets here, since everyone can guess based on the title of this post what movie I’m talking about. It is Ed Wood Jr.’s classic Plan 9 from Outer Space. Tony Schaab, who runs Twinstar Media, as a huge fan of the movie and someone who is involved in the novelization of the script as well as a remake of the movie, came up with an intriguing question: if the movie shows what Plan 9 was from the aliens, which failed so miserably, what were their first 8 plans to conquer earth? Well, maybe not to conquer earth, but to prevent us from making a solarnite bomb. And if you don’t know what a solarnite bomb is, go look for Plan 9 on Youtube-you can watch the entire movie in all its wretched glory free of charge.
Thus was born the idea behind Before Plan 9: Plans 1-8 From Outer Space. I’m proud to be a part of this project and to have the chance to pay homage to one of the worst movies of all time with what I hope isn’t one of the worst short stories of all time, heh. My little story has the honor of being Plan 1, if you can believe it! It is entitled: Plan 1 from the Lesser-Heralded Parts of The Odyssey. Yep, these aliens have been bugging us humans since the days of Greek heroes like Odysseus.
Here is the full table of contents:
- Plan Zero from the Mesozoic Era by Tony Schaab
- Plan 1 from the Lesser-Heralded Parts of The Odyssey by Patrick D’Orazio
- Plan 2 from Ancient Egypt by D.A. Chaney
- Plan 3 from the Middle Ages of Hamelin by Greg Carter
- Plan 4 from the Clockwork Country by Tonia Brown
- Plan 5 from the Depressing Depression by David Dunwoody
- Plan 6 from the Nazi Regime by Rob Silvera
- Plan 7 from Sin City by Jonathan Maberry
- Plan 8 from the Fantastic Fifties, Phase 1 by Craig DiLouie
- Plan 8 from the Fantastic Fifties, Phase 2 by Joe McKinney and Michael McCarty
Before I reveal the cover of this beauty, done by the wonderful artist who did the covers of my three books (Philip R. Rogers), I want to show the original movie poster for Plan 9, just to give you more of an appreciation for what Philip managed to do here.
Now check out the book cover.
Pretty cool, huh?
This book is scheduled for a late March release, so you won’t have to wait long to check out all this Plans 1-8 goodness! More details to come!
January 14, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, The Shorts | Tags: adventure, Aliens, Apocalypse, comedy, cover art, horror, odyssey, science fiction, short stories, supernatural, zombies | 2 Comments
Recently, I had the opportunity to catch up with Frank Hall, a good friend of mine who runs Hydra Publications, a small press from Indiana that focuses on speculative fiction. I did an interview with him, which was a lot of fun, and we chatted about my projects, past, present, and future.
It was a lot of fun, and it is posted over at their website. You can check it out here: http://www.hydrapublications.com/2011/12/26/interview-with-patrick-dorazio/
December 26, 2011 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: editing, horror, interview, short stories, writing, zombies | Leave a comment
Tim Long, a fellow zombie novelist and all around great guy shot me over some questions a little while back. Some were normal, some were odd, and some…well, just check it out. I chat about my books, about my zombie slaying skills (well, sort of), I ramble a bit, and I chat about a new project I’m involved with that Tim handed the reins over to me on. So I am handling my first editing project. I will provide more details down the road as the book shapes up a bit more and is ready for primetime, but for now, give a looksee at the info on it over on his website: http://timothywlong.com/an-interview-with-patrick-dorazio/.
Thanks Tim for a fun interview. Oh and do Tim a favor and check out what else he has on his blog. He is in the process of releasing a couple of books and has a some others that have been out for a while…all of which I have read, and all of which I can heartily recommend…though a couple of them are pretty odd. But Tim is a pretty odd guy. And that, my friends, is a good thing!
September 26, 2011 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: Apocalypse, beyond the dark, comedy, comes the dark, horror, interview, Into The Dark, Library of the Living Dead, publishing, short stories, writing, zombies | Leave a comment
Sometime in the deep murky past, I agreed to be a part of a collaboration of authors who would each take a swipe at a couple of chapters of a zombie book. All the authors would write one chapter for the first half of the book and then turn around and write a second chapter for the latter half of the book. Fast forward to today and the book is halfway done (a little bit past that, actually) and my guess is that my second chapter will be coming up in the next few months. I loved creating the first chapter I did, which was probably longer than what I was asked to produce (over 10k words when they wanted half that…ugh!), but I loved that crazy trip all the authors were taking, and I did my best to start pulling some of the characters together. The scary part of doing a chapter now is that so much has happened in the story since my last deep dive into this sucker, so keeping track of it all is going to be tricky. Naturally, as it is a zombie book, people die, so a lot of those characters I worked on before are long gone, and some of the plot twists have been pretty wild as well, so I will have my work cut out for me. But one day, hopefully not too far down the line, this puppy will be all sewn up and will be produced in ebook and paperback versions for everyone to check out. Some of the authors have dropped out for various reasons and others have joined the cause, so it has been an even larger collaboration than expected, and that makes it all the more exciting to be a part of.
An artist that I know and love is the one who has created the cover concept, and I am thrilled with it. Matt Nord, who has been coordinating this project, shows excellent taste by selecting the inimitable Philip R Rogers, who did the artwork for my trilogy as well. So check this gruesome image out. More details, naturally, to come in time. But at this point, I am just getting prepared for when I am called to pick up the pen and write my second chapter for this sucker. All I can promise at this point is that there will be blood. Oh yes, there will. Until then, sink your teeth into this image to get you all riled up for when this puppy goes to print.
September 14, 2011 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Other folk's stuff... | Tags: Collaboration, horror, zombies | Leave a comment
I had the chance to answer a few questions from podcaster and fellow author Patrick Hester, who is, proudly, a Functional Nerd. What is a functional nerd, you ask? Once upon a time, a boss noted that, for a nerd, Patrick Hester still managed to ‘function’ within society – hence was born: The Functional Nerd.
We chatted about bizarro, The Dark Trilogy, me (ugh!), my life outside of writing, the pluses and minuses of the “big publishing house route” vs. “the small press publishers”, short story writing vs. novel writing, and of course, zombies! It was a blast to do. Patrick conducts a great interview. My thanks to him for his great questions, insights, and the conversation we had afterword that shed some light on some really cool conventions I wasn’t aware of that I might be checking out in the upcoming months and years.
Check it out here! http://functionalnerds.com/2011/08/episode-067-patrick-dorazio/.
August 2, 2011 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: Apocalypse, beyond the dark, Bizarro, comes the dark, dark stories, horror, interview, Into The Dark, Library of the Living Dead, Permuted Press, short stories, writing, zombies | Leave a comment
Kevin Walsh over at Buyzombie.com spent some time recently coming up with some pretty good questions for me in an interview after he’d written the final review for my trilogy. I want to thank him for the time and effort. It was a lot of fun. So check it out here: http://www.buyzombie.com/2011/07/14/undead-news/patrick-dorazio-interview/
July 14, 2011 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Dark Stories, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: beyond the dark, comes the dark, dark stories, horror, interview, Into The Dark, Library of the Living Dead, writing, zombies | Leave a comment
I just mentioned in my prior post that Rebecca Besser had reviewed Comes The Dark and also that she had interviewed me as well. Well, Rebecca is a busy blogger today, because she just posted my interview after posting her review earlier today. You can check it out here: http://blog.rebeccabesser.com/2011/07/06/interview-with-patrick-dorazio-author-of-comes-the-dark-the-first-book-of-the-dark-trilogy.aspx
Thanks once again to Rebecca for taking the time to do the interview. It was a lot of fun!
July 6, 2011 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Dark Stories, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences, Random Thoughts | Tags: Apocalypse, beyond the dark, comes the dark, dark stories, horror, interview, Into The Dark, Library of the Living Dead, short stories, zombies | Leave a comment
Monique-Cherie Snyman has taken the time to review both of the first two books of my trilogy, and her review of Beyond The Dark should be appearing quite soon. I’m really excited to see what she thinks of it as well as the Dark Stories that appear in the ebook format of the trilogy. The interview was a lot of fun, and appears on her website, Killer Aphrodite (don’t you just love that name?). So check it out here: http://networkedblogs.com/jC0eT. I’ll post here when her review of Beyond The Dark shows up there as well. And of course, I want to thank Monique for taking the time to interview me. It was my pleasure!
June 26, 2011 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Dark Stories, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences | Tags: beyond the dark, book review, comes the dark, dark stories, horror, interview, Into The Dark, kindle, Library of the Living Dead, zombies | Leave a comment
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